Hull illustrator, children’s author and founder of Happy Doodles, Jodie Smith, has been shortlisted for the Fearless Freelancer award at the National Arts and Cultural Education Awards. The shortlisting comes at a time of significant growth in her work, including the expansion of Happy Doodles and the recent pilot of her school based programme, Just Doodle.
Happy Doodles began through Jodie doodling alongside her daughter at the kitchen table. It has since developed a six week programme designed to help children understand and express their emotions through drawing. Jodie recently completed a pilot at Thoresby Primary School in Hull, where pupils wrote, illustrated and published their own book, Rainbow of Emotions. Following its success, four additional Hull schools have expressed interest in becoming pilots.
Jodie is also progressing Happy Doodles into a Community Interest Company (CIC). She is currently recruiting directors, with two already being onboarded. This supports her plan to take the programme into more Hull schools and, over time, expand its reach beyond the city. Her long term aim is to adapt the programme for settings such as care homes, mental health services, neurodivergent communities and support for new parents.
Her work is shaped by her lived experience of bipolar disorder and inattentive ADHD. She experienced postpartum psychosis after her daughter was born during COVID‑19, and doodling together became a way to support their bond and emotional wellbeing. This personal foundation sits alongside her background as an illustrator and children’s author. Her book Bipolar Blob was published by Sweet Cherry Publishing after she received a scholarship on the Goodship Illustration picture book course.
Access to an affordable creative workspace at Feral Art School has supported the recent development of Happy Doodles. Before joining Feral, Jodie worked entirely from her kitchen table, which made it difficult to separate home life from creative work. Having a dedicated space has enabled her to develop the programme more fully and take part in Hull’s creative community.
Jodie studied Printed Textiles & Surface Pattern at Leeds Arts University before working as a greeting card designer at Clinton’s. Becoming a parent and receiving her bipolar diagnosis reshaped her direction, leading to the creation of Happy Doodles and the work now recognised through her shortlisting at the National Arts and Cultural Education Awards.
Jodie along with other finalists will be celebrated at the National Arts and Cultural Education Awards on 21 October in Manchester.
A kitchen table idea growing into a creative mental health programme now reaching schools across Hull is at the heart of why Jodie earned her place as a well deserved finalist. Find out more about Jodie's programme and Happy Doodles here.